The Fall Season: A Time for Organizing

The fall season is a time for reclaiming the home and preparing for the holiday season.

After a hectic summer of sports, vacations, vegetable gardening, camps, and cookouts, most homes are in need of reorganizing and deep cleaning. The fall season is the perfect time for reclaiming the home before another chaotic season begins, the holidays.

Cooler weather brings the “nesting” syndrome out in most of us. We want to ready our homes for festive dinners, family gatherings, and quiet moments around a nice fire. The holidays are crazy enough without having to worry about your mother-in-law opening an overstuffed closet or having a last minute house guest sleeping in a room filled with overflow. A little investment in preparing during the fall can help make the holidays more relaxed and enjoyable for everyone involved.

September is the time when regular schedules come back into our lives. It is also an opportune time to start decluttering your home in order to make the time spent indoors during the holidays and colder weather more pleasurable. It is also the beginning of a new season of clothing, which makes it the right time to clean out the closets.

As with every decluttering project, make a pile for donation items, a pile for items that need to be thrown away or recycled, and a pile that does not belong in that particular area and can be moved to its proper place.

Organizing Resources

Entryway Closet-Summer has taken a toll on the entryway closet that most families use for umbrellas, rain boots, dirty garden sandals, and sporting equipment. Now is the time to get everything out of the closet, thoroughly clean the interior, and perform an analysis of what can be kept and what can be thrown away. When these steps are completed, return items back into the closet that will only be needed during the fall and winter seasons such as winter boots, one coat per family member, and hats, scarves and gloves. If this step is completed a couple of months before needed, it makes life for all family members much easier that first frosty morning.

Closet Organizing

Bedroom Closets-At the beginning of each season, every member of the family should take time to go through their closets, remove the items not worn in a year, and give the pieces to charity. In these economic times, food and clothing banks are suffering; donations are extremely needed and can be written off on tax returns. When choosing clothing items to donate, make decisions based on if the items are outdated, if they fit any longer, or if they are in need of repair. If items are beyond repair, do not donate them. Make the clothing worth the charity’s time and expense.

An organized and tidy closet can make active mornings run smooth when choosing clothing for the day. By putting all like items together such as skirts, pants, and tops, helps the matching process be completed in seconds, not minutes.

Purses and Shoes-Do not forget to purge purses and shoes along with clothing. Purses are a hot seller for charity thrift shops and provide much needed funds to help the poor. If you have a large collection of purses, you may want to decide to limit the number to 12. Limiting to this number allows for rotating to a new pocketbook monthly. Of course, special occassion purses are not included in the 12, but, you will need to limit those as well to four or five.

October is a glorious month full of football games and trips to the country to see the colorful leaves. This is the best time to put away gardening tools, purge holiday decorations, and organize the linen closet.

Gardening Tools-Unless you live in a climate which allows you to garden year round, October is the time to clean and store garden tools for the winter. Throw out any broken items that are simply taking up space. Clean and oil all tools that require such care, and store in a shelter or garage away from the brutal winter weather.

Holiday Decorations-Fall is the perfect time to look over holiday decorations used throughout the year. Throw out any torn or faded items, and donate all others that you no longer want. Again, only donate quality items that will benefit the charity of your choice.

Folding a Fitted Sheet

Linen Closet-After a heat filled summer, it is time to bring the comfy blankets and quilts out of storage. Stock the linen closet with freshly laundered flannel sheets and warm comforters. This is also the time to check the condition of your bath towels. When having family and quests over for the holidays, you need to make sure the bath linens are not worn, faded, stained, or torn.

Kitchen Organization

November is the beginning of the hectic, chaotic holiday season. If you have made efforts in the previous months to prepare, then festive events should not take a stressful toll on you. The only rooms left to declutter in preparation for parties and celebrations are the kitchen and dinning room.

Kitchen-The kitchen will be the center of everything for the next two months. To feel confident in preparing meals, you will want to start with a clean, sanitized workspace. Take a day, and enlist the help of family members, to thoroughly clean cabinets, refrigerator, stove, countertops, and of course the floor. Throw out all broken appliances, dishes, or flatware. Donate old dishes that are still in useable condition. Wash curtains, clean windows, and dust blinds. Look over the expiration date of food items and throw away anything out of date. Make a list of staples that you will need, and purchase enough, if you are financially able, to last throughout the entire holiday season. This is the time of the year that baking items go on sale, and it is a good idea to stockpile what you will need.

Dinning Room-Besides the kitchen, this room will be the most used area during celebrations. Make sure the baseboards are dusted, the chairs vacuumed, and linens are clean and ironed. If you like formal settings with china and silver, this is the time to wash the dishes and polish the flatware. Decorate for each celebration before the day of the event. Don’t try to clean, decorate, and cook all in the same day. That is why preparation is so vital for this busy time of year. You want to enjoy the event you have worked so hard to make special.

About the Author

Catherine Dean is a freelance writer, gardener, quilter, and blogger. Her professional background includes nonprofit program development, grant writing, and volunteer management. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Mass Communications from Georgia College & State University.

Her blog, Sowing A Simple Harvest, chronicles a modern couple trying to live a simplistic, sustainable life. To explore her professional credentials, visit her website. She can also be followed on Google+.

Comments

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AUTHOR

Catherine Dean

6 years agofrom Milledgeville, Georgia

Thanks so much! Fall is a great time to get organized.

toknowinfo

6 years ago

Thanks for these great and very useful tips. I always appreciate any info that helps me be more organized. Well done hub and a very useful read.

AUTHOR

Catherine Dean

6 years agofrom Milledgeville, Georgia

I too think it is as important as spring cleaning. I always get into the nesting mode after a long hot summer. Thanks for commenting.

Linda Chechar

6 years agofrom Arizona

I am an organizing fool, so I loved your tips for getting everything ready for the change of seasons. We will soon be busy with holiday activities -- what a great time to prepare for the festivities and cold weather. To me, this is as important as spring cleaning. Thanks for sharing your ideas. Fall organization will now be a part of my annual household routines!

AUTHOR

Catherine Dean

6 years agofrom Milledgeville, Georgia

I am in zone 8 and garden year round, so I know how that is. I love to garden in cooler weather! I am so glad you found some adds to your routine. Blessings for a happy and stressfree holiday season. Thanks for commenting.

OldRoses

6 years ago

Great hub! I already do most of this, but found a few things to add to my autumn to-do list. One thing I do differently is put my garden tools away in November. Here in NJ, zone 6, veggie gardeners are sowing and harvesting their cool season crops and flower gardeners like myself are busy planting our bolbs and perennials.

AUTHOR

Catherine Dean

6 years agofrom Milledgeville, Georgia

Thanks for commenting Marlene! I went through my shoes at the beginning of spring and got rid of a lot of really worn ones. Of course I went out purchased a few new pairs of summer sandals after that.

Marlene Bertrand

6 years agofrom USA

Shoes! That's where I really need to get on the ball and get organized. Mostly, I just need to donate them. Books is another area where I need to get organized. But, that's not all. I like all of your tips and hope to get organized before winter. Your hub is perfect timing for me.

AUTHOR

Catherine Dean

6 years agofrom Milledgeville, Georgia

Thanks Carol! Sounds like you are truly inspired to get organized for the holidays. It will make everything more enjoyable and less stressful. Thanks for stopping by.

carol stanley

6 years agofrom Arizona

Tomorrow it is the kitchen pantry and hall closet. I am inspired to do this. I hate clutter and it often is around me. Thanks for organizing all of this..Voted UP.

AUTHOR

Catherine Dean

6 years agofrom Milledgeville, Georgia

Thanks so much cat! That is excellent that you do the seasonal rotation of clothes. That is the best method to keeping on top of too many clothes. Thanks for commenting!

Catherine Tally

6 years agofrom Los Angeles

Hi mvillecat :)

I love all of these great suggestions! I'm already in the habit of seasonal clothes rotation and thrift donations, but will expand the practice to dishes and linens. It just makes such good sense! It will save me from digging in the back of my cupboards and accidently breaking things. I will also make a point of polishing the silver a little earler too! Less stress :)

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